


Sunburn

by Just_A_Simple_Tailor



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Day At The Beach, M/M, One Shot, Vacation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-31
Updated: 2019-07-31
Packaged: 2020-07-28 03:49:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,366
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20057533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Just_A_Simple_Tailor/pseuds/Just_A_Simple_Tailor
Summary: Quark invited Odo on a trip to Risa, but all his plans are falling through. Will a day in the sun actually help them grow closer?





	Sunburn

**Author's Note:**

> Rated it mature not due to sex or violence but because it involves (nonsexual) taking off of pants, and (nonsexual) mentions of (non) existing genitalia for humour purposes

Odo didn’t understand why he ever agreed to this. Sure Quark was, as Kira aptly called him, a “miserable bastard” but he was going to _Risa_. That was way out of Odo’s jurisdiction and any trouble Quark got into there wasn’t his problem. But Quark had invited him _personally_. And for some reason that he couldn’t understand, Odo had decided to come.

From the time they arrived Quark had led Odo around to all of the mindless attractions solids seemed to enjoy doing for fun and relaxation. He was not impressed. He was a changeling; he couldn’t eat or drink anything that came from the seemingly hundreds of stalls littered all around the area they had come to. And while he couldn’t get hurt he inexplicably did not want Quark doing any of the potentially dangerous thrill seeking activities that the planet provided. So, with a sigh, Quark had led them to the beach. A calm inlet right by the living quarters full of humanoids sunbathing, enjoying the surf, and building sculptures and buildings out of the sand.

“Here” Quark said, exasperated and almost spilling the drink in his hand. “Is this at least tolerable?”

Odo huffed, “Well it certainly isn’t as bad as all the other meaningless attractions you’ve shown me.”

“Good, we’ll stay here for the day, at least _try_ to enjoy yourself.”

Odo plopped himself down on the sand as Quark popped a small tablet into his mouth. Unfortunately, the act went unnoticed by Odo, who was too busy mentally complaining about the beach.

The sand felt weird, the surf was too loud, the wind from the waves was annoying on his face and children were running wildly _everywhere._ This place needed a _LOT_ more security, something Odo was actually happy to provide.

As Quark busied himself setting up his towel and umbrella, and bag of excess clothing and snacks, Odo snuck off into the area of the beach he deemed the worse off, shifted into an umbrella; the most plentiful item on the beach, and waited.

A child ran past him.

“No running on the sand.” Came a voiced that seemed be coming from, of all things, a beach umbrella.

The child stopped, fear in their eyes.

“That’s better now move along.” Odo said.

They stayed frozen for a moment and then turned and ran tears in their eyes calling to their mother about the scary talking umbrella.

“Hey! No-.”

But the child was gone.

Odo didn’t have much more luck than that.

He’d yell at a child and they stare at him in fear, and then run away. Soon they all avoided the area. Well at least he had peace. And it was… kind of nice. No reports to fill out, not rounds to walk, no one to yell at. Odo found himself zoning out and not paying attention to anything in particular. For once, he was not on duty…

“ODO!!!”

He was thrown out of his reverie by Quark shouting his name.

“ODO WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU!?!”

Surprised, he subconsciously shifted into his innate gelatinous form, and then back to himself.

Quark was facing towards the beach, with his back to him and turned at the slight sound made when Odo changed shapes.

“Odo, there you are I was worried about you!”

“Hmpph… I am perfectly alright Quark, I can take care of myself.”

“Still, you’ve never been here before you don’t know all the ins and outs of this planet. But…. That’s besides the fact.” Quark shook his head and motioned toward the living quarters. “It’s time to go inside I’ve got quite the suite reserved. And I got it at a discount!”

Odo nodded. “Ah yes, I suppose that may be a good idea. I need to regenerate myself soon.”

“Well at least stay… well, yourself for dinner, I got an amazing deal on some great-“

“I don’t _eat_ Quark.”

Quark frowned, and was that a look of… disappointment on his face?

“Ah, yes well let’s get back so you can _regenerate_.”

They arrived at their living quarter for the week, luggage already there and set up. Most of it was Quarks, but the large copper colored bucket belonged to Odo.

He grabbed it as soon as he entered the room, bringing it back into a quiet, private area and shifted to goo, moving himself into it. He had completely ignored the table, candlelit and set beautifully for two, as well as Quark’s saddened face, as he sat down to his meal alone.

Quark was woken from sleep by a shout of pain.

“QUARK! HELP! I’M DYING!”

It was Odo.

Terrified, Quark jumped out of bed and ran to Odo’s room…. And stifled a laugh with a sigh of relief.

Odo was shaped like himself, but he was a deep shade of red, even his clothing.

“Oh, thank goodness,” Quark said. “Odo don’t scare me like that, I think you’re just sunburned.”

“I’m what?”

“See, the sun of a planet will sent Ultra Violet radiation onto the it, and when you are in the direct path of it, such as being outside on the beach for a long period of time, you can get a radiation burn from it. At least, that’s the gist of it. I guess you must not have known considering you were never in any sun for very long during most of your life. In fact, I didn’t even think shifters _could_ get sunburned.”

“Well what am I supposed to do!?!? It HURTS!”

“Just give me a second.” Quark muttered digging through one of the bags.

“Ah here we go.” He had brought out a bottle filled with a green gel.

“What’s that?” Odo asked suspiciously.

“It’s just Aloe Vera, a Terran plant. Here, I’ll put it on you, shift out of your shirt so I can put it on easier, that fabric texture is _horrendous_.”

Odo looked at him for second, and shifted the upper part of his body to a human torso, fit looking, but not exactly muscular.

Quark sucked in a breath for a moment and then started rubbing it on Odo’s body.

Odo sighed, and relaxed from his stiff posture a bit. Then he shifted out of the pants he was in.

Quark felt the shifted bottoms go away from him and jumped back.

“Odo you can’t just-“ He dared take a look and stopped. “Odo…?”

“Uh, what Quark?”

“Has anyone ever given you a complete humanoid anatomy lesson?”

Expecting to see something else entirely, Quark had been surprised to see a completely genitalless crotch area below Odo’s waist.

“No, why would they?” Odo asked.

“Oh, um, no reason I’ll get back to this.”

Quark ended up using the whole aloe bottle on Odo, covering him from top to bottom and he did look less red by the time Quark was done.

“There, are you feeling better?” Quark asked, surprisingly gently.

“Yes, um.. thank you Quark..”

They stared at each other for a few moments.

Quark was the first to speak.

“You’ve um, got a bit of aloe that didn’t absorb on your face.”

“Hmph, where?”

Quark braced himself.

“Here” He said and kissed Odo on the lips.

Odo widened his eyes, surprised, and then kissed Quark back, slowly closing them.

They parted and stood embraced for a few moments, before Quark looked up at him.

“I think you’ve gotten enough sun for a while. Let’s um…. Let’s stay inside for today.”

“For once Quark,” Odo said softly, the gruffness gone from his voice, “I agree with you.”

Later that night, Odo lying quietly next to him in his bed, Quark sat quietly thinking. Sure things didn’t go exactly according to plan -Odo had abandoned him on the beach and ignored the nice dinner, and Quark had had _many_ more steps planned to woo him- but the outcome had been the same, and in fact had been faster than he expected. This time, finally, Quark had been the victor. He turned and looked at Odo who was lying on his back with his eyes closed.

“Odo?” Quark said softly.

Odo turned to him and opened his eyes. “Mmmph.”

“I knew you liked me, It’s written all over your face.”


End file.
